A Lifestyle Of Kindness

I’m so thankful to have this opportunity to share my heart with you all! God’s really been talking to me about some things lately and I can’t wait to share them with you!

It’s the new year, and that means resolutions by the millions, amiright?

People are committing to get fit or lose weight or cut out carbs or get better jobs or meet certain goals, and there's nothing wrong with that! I do it too!! But something that the Lord has laid on my heart is in the area of Kindness.

Everyone always says, “Be Kinder than you feel!” “Kindness is cool!” “Kindness is the new black!” I’m not saying those are bad things to say… I love those phrases and think that, by all means, we should do our best to be kind. But that’s where it gets hard!

We, as human beings, are not naturally kind.

Read that again.

It’s not easy to say and it’s not easy to hear, but we are all born with a sin nature. The Bible says our hearts are “desperately wicked.” Wow. I don’t know many desperately wicked people but I’d assume they wouldn’t go out of their way to be kind.

Here’s the thing: God designed us perfectly. But when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, that perfection was tainted with sin. We are no longer good by nature, and that means trying extra hard to be good!

Proverbs 18:24,

“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”

Sometimes people do things to hurt us. Maybe not intentionally, or maybe they meant to hurt us, but either way it hurts and we have a choice to make.

Are we going to treat them how they treated us, or how we wish they had treated us? You see, so many things are choices and not feelings!

Love is a choice.

Kindness is a choice.

Forgiveness is a choice.

And these three things go together.

You see, kindness, in it’s truest essence, is more than just saying a kind word or doing a good deed. It’s a lifestyle.

So I just want to remind you to be kind no matter what you face this new year. No matter what anyone says to you, resolve to answer with grace and kindness and do your best to emulate the Savior. He laid down his life for us. The least we can do is sacrifice a little of our own comfort in order to reach out to another soul in need. Feelings are shallow and fleeting. Choices will last.